Subscribe to Print Edition | Sat., June 07, 2008 Sivan 4, 5768 | | Israel Time: 14:39 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Peres Conference Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Former MK Azmi Bishara. (Motti Kimche) Last update - 22:21 04/06/2008 Shin Bet: Ex-MK Bishara likely recruiting Balad activists to Hezbollah By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Balad, Azmi Bishara  The Shin Bet security service believes it likely that former MK and Balad chairman Azmi Bishara is trying to recruit activists in his Israeli Arab party to serve Hezbollah and other enemy groups. The security service revealed this while responding to the Adalah Arab minority rights center's demand that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz halt the "political" investigations of Balad activists. Bishara, who left Israel last year amid suspicions that he collaborated with the Lebanon-based guerilla group Hezbollah, is continuing to maintain contacts with groups hostile to Israel, according to the Shin Bet. Advertisement In the Shin Bet's statement, it emphasized that Bishara is likely to exploit his contacts in Israel for hostile purposes, including recruitment to serve in Hezbollah, or to persuade activists to perform other illegal activities, while misleading them as to his real intentions. Balad expressed its anger at the Shin Bet's response. Attorney Riad Anis, one of the party's senior members, stressed that the activists told investigators that they "believe in [the validity] of their national political roles, that their activities were not in opposition to the law, and that this investigation comes as the continuation of the political persecution of Dr. Azmi Bishara and Balad activists." The security forces suspect that Bishara received hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash during the 2006 Second Lebanon War for providing "information, suggestions and recommendations," including censored material, to sources in Lebanon during the war. Related articles: Shin Bet: Ex-MK Bishara may be recruiting Balad activists to Hezbollah Hezbollah denies wartime contact with Azmi Bishara Does anyone really miss Azmi Bishara? Bookmark to del.icio.us   Terrorist donuts U.S. Arabs irate over criticism of celebrity cook's kaffiyeh. All the way to hell Rosner's blog: It's Obama's good intentions that pro-Israel activists fear.   1.   round `em up, lads. 21:13  |  frenz 04/06/08   2.   The Soft Spot of a Liberal Democracy 21:44  |  Pallach, Shmuel 04/06/08   3.   the guy`s still getting a paid by the knesset.... 23:41  |  shimmy 04/06/08   4.   Wake up, Shin Bet 00:09  |  MR 05/06/08   5.   are we still paying bishara or his wife a pension? this must stop 02:16  |  ralph 05/06/08   6.   Bishara is victim or political persecution 03:41  |  M.A.D. 05/06/08   7.   taxpayers are paying to keep these men in the knesset 03:44  |  zionist forever 05/06/08

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